SKATE NEWS

Pleasant surprises amongst bills, bank statements and debt collectors is a rarity when it comes to the daily delivery of mail. But yesterday, a special drop-ff came my way in the form of a freshly shrink wrapped bundle of goodness, courtesy of Girl Skateboards. It was the much anticipated Girl/Antihero Northwest Tour DVD, Beauty & The Beast. Unless you've been in a coma for the earlier part of 2008, you know all about the joint tour between these two very different teams, Girl and Antihero. This collaboration amongst friends and skate colleagues was brilliant really. Antihero has long since had a solid reputation for being a team of beer guzzling, transition shralping, not showering maniacs, both on and off their skateboards. Girl, on the other hand, has a much cleaner reputation. I mean for the most part, six packs aren't consumed during daily skate missions and everyone on their team is well washed and presentable at the beginning and end of the day.

Girl/Antihero

Rick McCrank. Lien Backside Grab In The Corner
What's unique about Beauty & The Beast is that it's essentially two videos rolled into one, depicting the visual perspectives of both Girl and Antihero teams. The video is broken up into three sections. You've got the "Beast Edit," which is Anthero's cut of the tour, the "Beauty Edit," which is Girl's own edit and last but not least, the "Retard Edit," which is a collection of drunken debauchery and good times throughout the trip.

Antihero's Beast Edit features the same gritty goodness we've all grown to love from Antihero, with the exception of some polished "Chunk" and Mia Farrow CGI graphics. Drunken antics, amazing skating, lady on man dance floor grinding and the lyrical stylings of MC Dirt Nasty is how things start off. The skating is top notch, including everyone on tour. One section of the video features a full-on carve race (complete with pinned entry numbers on each dudes back) while pumping around an insane bowled-out cement park that looks to be in the middle of nowhere. Cardiel, Alex Olson, Brian Anderson, Tony Miorana, Frank Gerwer, Carroll, Koston, Rick Howard, McCrank, Tony T, Robbie Russo and more. It's like watching a home video outing for the day featuring some of your favorite skaters. Courtesy Girl/Antihero

Andrew Allen and Mike Carroll Flaunt There Wizard Staffs In The Woods (Wizard Country)
There's also a death metal infused montage of some of the burliest cement parks around, including Burnside. There's camping, stacking of beer can wizard staffs and tons of shredding. Peter Hewitt is a maniac and public park MVP definitely goes to Rick McCrank, who absolutely destroys it all throughout this video. The best part of this edit comes after the credits with a session on a bump to sidewalk gap that gets wrecked by pretty much everyone.

Girl's edit is more polished as you would have expected and like before, it's a montage style of both teams skating, but with mostly new tricks.Courtesy Girl/Antihero

BA And Cardiel Feed A Seagull Up Top While Max Schaaf Tailgrabs Down Below
Even if it's the same trick from the previous edit, it comes in the form of a different angle, which keeps things fresh after the first edit. Little Robbie Russo is amazing, McCrank still kills, Tony Trujillo has more board control than anybody in the world, Mike Carroll still has the best Japan Grabs around, Rick Howard is still in his prime and Julian Stranger continues to exhibit one of the best styles in skateboarding.

Included with the DVD is a 30 page glossy photo booklet featuring some of the highlights of the tour (the pics here are from the booklet), spiced up by Julian Stranger's hand writing, made famous by every Antihero ever made.

All in all, this video documents a bunch of skaters and friends who are simply having a good time all around. Pick this one up at your local shop and get reminded why skating is still fun as hell. -Jay Riggio